Press Coverage

"The problem isn't that the government is broken," Greg Coleridge says, whipping out one of many activist slogans he's been repeating so long they're inextricably threaded into the fabric of his speech. "It's that it's fixed."

"Fixed as in rigged," he says, leaning in, making sure the message is clear. Coleridge's central issue is corporate power and the insidious effects of money in politics. He is a man who has known that corporations aren't people since long before Citizens United.

Late last month, Nevada became the 19th state to call for Congress to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision. This would be accomplished through a constitutional amendment process. Since the 2010 ruling, its results have been overwhelmingly evident: The decision has substantially increased the influence of corporations on elections.

I’ve been musing about the idea of corporate personhood — the campaign by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and others that would grant corporations the basic rights that people have, on the theory that “businesses are, at least legally, not that different from people."

It is this kind of thinking that should be the primary target of people and organizations who want to bring humanity, not money, back to the fore as the ruling force in this country.

“Popular trust in government, elected representatives and political parties has fallen to extremely low levels in the US. This has been a long-term trend and one that preceded the election of Mr Trump as US president in November 2016."

As would be expected, commentators have been busy analyzing this year’s election results, with writers and talking heads attributing Donald Trump’s surprising victory to an array of different factors: a flawed Electoral College system, the shortcomings and tactical errors

Ballot measures across the country passed on November 8th highlighting the fact that progressive values still resonate with the U.S. electorate. Gains were made even in the face of industry deception and big dollar ad campaigns.

It’s not easy to overturn a U.S. Supreme Court decision. Congress can’t do it alone, and unless the court reverses itself, the only other avenue is changing the Constitution.

For national groups hoping to overturn the 2010 Citizens United decision that altered how much corporations can spend on politics, they know it’ll be a slow, state-by-state slog they hope passes through California when voters consider Proposition 59 on Tuesday.

Move to Amend is a coalition of hundreds of organizations and hundreds of thousands of individuals committed to social and economic justice, ending corporate rule, and building a vibrant democracy that is genuinely accountable to the people, not corporate interests. We call for an amendment to the US Constitution to unequivocally state that inalienable rights belong to human beings only, and that money is not a form of protected free speech under the First Amendment and can be regulated in political campaigns.